I was able to attend the spring practice session at Reser today. It went for a full 3 hours (11 am to 2 pm) and there was about 30 minutes of 11-on-11 with hitting (although not full tackling).

The biggest news — for me — was Rod Perry. Frankly, I didn't expect much from Perry. But after spending about 30 minutes watching Rod Perry up close, I came away with a different view.

Perry ran the defensive backs through a bunch of drills (including some drills I don't remember seeing last year). During the drills, Perry was watching the players closely, and giving them individual advice and tips. He would also, every few minutes, stop the drills to give the whole group a pointer or two. This continued during the 11-on-11 drills. Perry stayed engaged throughout, and coached up his def backs at pretty much every opportunity. Based on what I saw today, I believe Perry has the players' respect, as well as their attention, and that he has a lot to offer. If Perry keeps this up, I expect OSU's defensive backfield will play significantly better this coming season.

In the 11-on-11 drills (towards the end of practice), Mike Riley stood near the sidelines, and about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. When a player made a dumb mistake, MR would yell out the player’s name to get his attention, use hand gestures to call the player over for a short 1-on-1 conversation, and then talk with the player for 30 seconds about the mistake, after which Riley would send the player back to the drill area. Riley did this with Kellen Clute (after KC jumped the count), with Sean Mannion (after Mannion misread a coverage), and with one or two other players. Riley also got on Justin Addie’s case — throwing in a couple of loud “goshdarnits” for emphasis — when Addie bungled a blocking assignment. It all seemed designed by Riley to make the point that there will be much less tolerance this year for mental mistakes. Or maybe it’s just that Riley is finally feeling pressure and has become less patient with such dumb mistakes. Whatever the reason, Riley didn’t do much of this last season, to the best of my recollection.

On the other hand, I don’t recall Riley getting on Jake Welch at all, even though Jake Welch botched several snaps, failing to get the ball into the QB’s hands under center, leading to broken plays or fumbles. Jake Welch is listed at 322 lbs and looks massive — but still a work in progress at center.

Speaking of massive players, Castro Masaniai is still recovering from a leg injury and is not yet practicing with the team, but he was at practice today. In the middle of practice, Castro put on running shoes, and walked up and down the steps on the west side of Reser Stadium several times. Castro walked right by me once, and I got a good look at him. Castro is listed at 351 lbs, but he didn’t look fat — just very broad. He didn’t seem to be in pain, and he wasn’t huffing and puffing as much as I would have expected for such a huge guy going up and down the steps at Reser. I smiled as he went by, and said to him “Get healthy, the Beavers really need you — you are going to be one of the key guys this year”. Castro smiled, nodded, and gave me a high-five. I know — this is meaningless — but what the heck…

Near the beginning of practice, I watched the four QBs (Mannion, Vaz, Lomax, and Harrington) doing footwork drills together. For example, all four QBs would line up on the goal line, wait for the coach’s signal, and then execute a specified type of dropback. Seemed to me that Mannion’s footwork was faster and more precise than the footwork of the other three QBs. Mannion usually finished his dropback a split-second before the others. I think Mannion’s footwork has improved during the off-season.

Towards the end of practice, Mannion threw a couple of balls badly, and misread the defense several times, leading to throws that could/should have been intercepted (Naji Patrick, a redshirt freshman CB, dropped one that was right in his hands, on a sideline “out” pattern where Mannion never should have thrown the ball). But this was near the end of a long practice, where Mannion had thrown a LOT of passes (most of them accurate), and was visibly tiring. Still….

Cody Vaz has improved his throwing since last season. He is throwing the ball more smoothly, more accurately, with more power, and with a tighter spiral. He seems to be the clear #2 behind Mannion. Richie Harrington has potential, but I don’t think he’s ready to challenge Vaz for #2 quite yet.

Brandin Cooks was talking smack to the defensive backs, especially towards the end of practice, during the 11-on-11 drills. A couple of defensive backs tried and failed to rip the ball out of Cooks’ hands after Cooks had caught the ball and turned up field. Jogging back to the huddle after the play, Cooks turned to the DB’s and said (more than once) that there was “no way” they were getting the ball out of his hands. Stuff like that. Cooks was competitive in other drills during today’s practice, trying to stand out. Cooks seems ready and eager to assume a bigger role in the Beavers’ offense this season.

I watched new LB Cade Cowdin (transfer from College of the Desert, St. George, Utah) for a few plays. Didn’t seem like anything special, but almost surely too small a sample on which to judge. I’ll try to watch Cowdin more closely next time….

We need stuff like this to get our juices flowing again. It seems nobody's too excited about camp this year. Why is that? Because we just figure it's more of the same ol'?

As I said on the other thread, I really appreciate Silver’s reports. He usually points out things the print scribes ignore, like Perry seeming to have the respect and attention of the players.

As to figuring “it’s more of the same ol’ ” this spring, it may turn out that way but I am willing to doubt it. While we all would have liked changes in coordinators I have hopes that Perry along with Brasfield and Brennan can make an impact this season. Riley must have some pride, I think he will be more engaged this year (although I am not necessarily buying the print reports of his energy just yet).

The DT issue is not to be ignored but: improvement by subtraction, the likely absence of a QB fiasco (and what that does to team chemistry) and experience of key returners have my juices flowing…..I’m Ready For Some Football!

I don’t think there’s less fan energy. There’s no way to make a real assessment of that anyway, until you’re in Reser in the Fall. There’s less energy in angrybeavs.com because there’s a lot of buzz kills in here. I hope you’re not drawing conclusions from that.

If there are fair-weather fans, wouldn’t it follow that there are also foul-weathered fans? Wouldn’t the excitement of stereotypical curmudgeons (of which, I must confess, I belong) constitute a flurry of posts?

On a side note… apparently my tuning in to watch Beavs baseball has nothing to do with whether or not Cole Brocker gives up two runs when he comes in. I didn’t get to any medium yesterday because it was just a nice day to be outside.

No, even the Pollyanna sites are less active. And I don’t see as many Duck trolls in all the usual places. Last year we were pretty excited here, btw. Way too overly optimistic. I can’t get into this season because we don’t have a single legit DT, which means teams will run for at least a buck fifty per game on the Beavs. Hard to get optimistic about that.

I am not as excited for Spring ball, because its the same old thing again. I am getting tired of this program not addressing their needs. The most interesting thing for me this Spring was to see how the OL would be transformed and get a glimpse of what it would be in the Fall. However, we won’t get any clear picture of that because we don’t even have enough bodies for a two-deep? So what does it matter if one OL makes a position change, it probably is due to necessity. My second biggest concern is to see the DL, but again all I see there are alot of guys who need to spend more time in the weigh room because they are too small to hold up during the season. The other thing that frustrates me is that because we won’t have a full practice squad I wonder how much actual tackling we will be doing, because we always start the season slow and it seems like we are a step behind and not tackling as well early in the season, so I don’t see that improving if we can’t get out there and scrimmage. I am pretty much have to wait to the Fall camp to see how these things shake out. It’s disappointing, but maybe its a good thing to just let the team practice.

sometimes fans could use a readjusting of expectations. i’m thinking they just miss out on a bowl game, but the majority of fans (not just the peanut gallery) will walk away feeling encouraged about 2013. lots of time for that to change though.

In the 11-on-11 drills (towards the end of practice), Mike Riley stood near the sidelines, and about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. When a player made a dumb mistake, MR would yell out the player’s name to get his attention, use hand gestures to call the player over for a short 1-on-1 conversation, and then talk with the player for 30 seconds about the mistake, after which Riley would send the player back to the drill area. Riley did this with Kellen Clute (after KC jumped the count), with Sean Mannion (after Mannion misread a coverage), and with one or two other players. Riley also got on Justin Addie’s case — throwing in a couple of loud “goshdarnits” for emphasis — when Addie bungled a blocking assignment. It all seemed designed by Riley to make the point that there will be much less tolerance this year for mental mistakes. Or maybe it’s just that Riley is finally feeling pressure and has become less patient with such dumb mistakes. Whatever the reason, Riley didn’t do much of this last season, to the best of my recollection.

On the other hand, I don’t recall Riley getting on Jake Welch at all, even though Jake Welch botched several snaps, failing to get the ball into the QB’s hands under center, leading to broken plays or fumbles. Jake Welch is listed at 322 lbs and looks massive — but still a work in progress at center.

Speaking of massive players, Castro Masaniai is still recovering from a leg injury and is not yet practicing with the team, but he was at practice today. In the middle of practice, Castro put on running shoes, and walked up and down the steps on the west side of Reser Stadium several times. Castro walked right by me once, and I got a good look at him. Castro is listed at 351 lbs, but he didn’t look fat — just very broad. He didn’t seem to be in pain, and he wasn’t huffing and puffing as much as I would have expected for such a huge guy going up and down the steps at Reser. I smiled as he went by, and said to him “Get healthy, the Beavers really need you — you are going to be one of the key guys this year”. Castro smiled, nodded, and gave me a high-five. I know — this is meaningless — but what the heck…

Near the beginning of practice, I watched the four QBs (Mannion, Vaz, Lomax, and Harrington) doing footwork drills together. For example, all four QBs would line up on the goal line, wait for the coach’s signal, and then execute a specified type of dropback. Seemed to me that Mannion’s footwork was faster and more precise than the footwork of the other three QBs. Mannion usually finished his dropback a split-second before the others. I think Mannion’s footwork has improved during the off-season.

Towards the end of practice, Mannion threw a couple of balls badly, and misread the defense several times, leading to throws that could/should have been intercepted (Naji Patrick, a redshirt freshman CB, dropped one that was right in his hands, on a sideline “out” pattern where Mannion never should have thrown the ball). But this was near the end of a long practice, where Mannion had thrown a LOT of passes (most of them accurate), and was visibly tiring. Still….

Cody Vaz has improved his throwing since last season. He is throwing the ball more smoothly, more accurately, with more power, and with a tighter spiral. He seems to be the clear #2 behind Mannion. Richie Harrington has potential, but I don’t think he’s ready to challenge Vaz for #2 quite yet.

Brandin Cooks was talking smack to the defensive backs, especially towards the end of practice, during the 11-on-11 drills. A couple of defensive backs tried and failed to rip the ball out of Cooks’ hands after Cooks had caught the ball and turned up field. Jogging back to the huddle after the play, Cooks turned to the DB’s and said (more than once) that there was “no way” they were getting the ball out of his hands. Stuff like that. Cooks was competitive in other drills during today’s practice, trying to stand out. Cooks seems ready and eager to assume a bigger role in the Beavers’ offense this season.

I watched new LB Cade Cowdin (transfer from College of the Desert, St. George, Utah) for a few plays. Didn’t seem like anything special, but almost surely too small a sample on which to judge. I’ll try to watch Cowdin more closely next time….

Thanks for the write up SS. That’s good to hear about Masaniai. When I heard he was up to 350 I assumed he had just sat on his couch eating Big Macs all winter while his leg healed up. Hopefully he’s taking his role on this team seriously because a lot of our hopes are resting on him for this upcoming season.

As I pointed out on the other thread, the apathy towards OSU spring football even seems to extend to the media. Of course UO and OSU have gone in very different directions, with different results, (and different means to those results) but its surprising to me how little attention anyone seems to be paying to the Beavers in spring football.

I suspect Riley gets two more years of 5 or fewer wins. This year it would be accepted by Bob D because of the youth on the offensive line and the loss of Fred Thompson as an excuse for what I would expect to be sub-Pac 12 D line play. Next year, the offensive line youth will offer fewer excuses. The year after that, there should be no excuses with the offensive line, experienced qb’s, and good WR and RB depth.

BUT, back to spring football this year. I do think the inability to scrimmage is a problem, but there are real stories here. How is Riley responding to two straight losing seasons? After “assessing everything” in the offseason, where did Riley and staff make changes to their program? How is the RB position shaking out? Is Agnew really getting healthy, or will his hamstring be an regular problem? How is Woods doing and how fast does he look? Woods is catching the ball better than the others, runs better routes, will he have the speed and any lateral movement or cutback ability? I think he’s intriguing.

I know people are critical of too much blitzing, but I like that it makes it difficult on young QB’s and motivates the D players who want their numbers called. I think in three years, WSU’s not only going to be entertaining to watch, but competitive too.

Something else I found interesting from Prince re: the tight ends this year:

“With all the extra stuff we’ve been doing with the tight ends, I think our whole group excelled tremendously in the offseason,” Prince said. “We’re going back to some of the stuff we’ve run before, and it’s nice that I’ve already done it.”

If that’s the case (4-5-ish years ago) I’m wondering why it took Riley so long to make those changes.

It kinda sounds like he was or is burnt out and didn’t have the energy to do what he’d done in the past. That’s fine as long as he puts a guy in there who can keep it going. If the replacement isn’t getting it done then the replacement needs to be replaced which hasn’t happened.

If the replacement isn’t getting it done then the replacement needs to be replaced which hasn’t happened.
It’s draining pontificating Riley’s actions.
The short of it is that he hires friends and doesn’t want to fire/demote them.

Riley handed on the play calling to Langsdorf a few years ago and I recall him saying that he felt Langsdorf was ready to step up and take over. Also, the game planning took a lot of his time and by delegating the play calling, he could focus more on other head coaching things.

Clearly, Langsdorf didn’t progress as much as was hoped. But Riley likes him so much, he’s not willing to let him go.

Keeping my season tickets, but unsure how many games I’ll attend this year. 350 miles round trip, it makes for a long day of driving and I haven’t been all that interested in football for several years now. With the Pac-12 network hitting my TV soon, even less motivation to spend a day on the road.

I could certainly understand that. That’s a huge effort for every home game.
My drive from Hillsboro was getting longer every year so I got my wife interested in the Beavs which then lead to buying a 5th wheel so now we just make a weekend out of it. No fighting traffic before or after the game and we always have a nice bed to sleep in.
We’ve also surrounded ourselves with friends we’ve gathered over the years so it really makes game weekends fun, relaxing, and enjoyable. Well except for the 3 hour debacles of actually watching the team on the field the last 2 years!

Kelly was quoted in the Oregonian as saying (paraphrasing) “We coach to the fastest learning players on the field.”

I have problems with Kelly’s lack of ethics, but in terms of pure coaching, I think he’s one of the top 5 in the country. His approach to challenging players and playing fast is so refreshing compared to Riley’s glacial, non-strategic pacing, which unsurprisingly carries over into games.

Riley promised to evaluate “everything” this offseason. Anybody ever hear about that process and it’s results? Did Riley visit or consult with other coaches (e.g. non-Pac-12) to learn what is effective in their offseason programs?

I agree that Riley has some characteristics that I like and some that I wish he were different on. Some of his weaknesses are even made more apparent with some of the strengths of Chippy. But, a guy is not going to change who he is. If Riley did change or at least tries to fake changing it probably would not be taken well by the players. Riley will never be Chip Kelly. I for one, am happy about that. If Riley were more like Chip we would have even less idea about next year’s team. SilverStream would not be able to go watch practice. Chip is a good X and O coach and at least at U of O he is able to recruit, but he personally seems to be a piece of work.

Yep, but a leopard cant change its spots….or somesuch. So Riley cant suddenly become Mr FireandBrimstone.

Kelley has a number of good qualities, and a very important one is innovation and the knack for developing and instituting an energetic, fast paced scheme. That alone puts other teams at a disadvantage, all else even being equal. But he clearly recruits for that, and wants fast, energetic players.

Even if his recruiting machinations in Texas burn his UO bridges, he has elevated them in stature and image. That will probably stay, even if he has to go.

Two things to note:
1. Sean Harlow (San Clemente OT) was at practice on Saturday. It’s his second visit to Corvallis in three weeks.
2. Jared is holding a press conference today at 1:00pm. I believe it will be live and free on BNO.

“Coach Robinson and Jared Cunningham will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. today. It will be streamed live for free at the following link and will also be posted to our Facebook page after it has concluded. Go Beavs!”

I don’t think so. The logic is there but realistically it’s not an option for numerous reasons.

1. The number of games a school could play is 16. 12 regular season., 1 conference championship,1 bowl game, 1 semifinal and 1 championship game.

These are young guys, their bodies aren’t ready for that kind of grind. The quality of game would deteriorate because guys who aren’t ready will be forced into action due to the likely increase in injuries. yes D2 plays 16 if they reach the finals, but I don’t think big time college football wants to see all of their star players fall by the wayside.

2. The end of the season would conflict with the NFL playoffs causing scheduling issues. We’d have to assume that the bowl games would stay on the Jan 1 date., which is problematic because it falls on different days each year. Also all the quarterfinals would have to be on the same day so no team has an advantage. The rose bowl would demand a Jan 1 date forcing the other BCS bowls to be on Jan 1 which the tv networks would hate.

So if New year’s falls in the middle of the week, when would the semis be? The NFL owns the weekends when thier playoffs start so games would have to be a monday night. If new years is a Wed, Thurs or Friday, all the teams would have to wait over a week to play again. The schedule gets too messy with an additional round.

IMO – Realistically, a plus one is the only solution for a playoff.

and if it’s in OSU best interest, the best scenario would be a bye into the rose bowl.

Better hope he tears it up in the draft camps if he wants to get into the first round.

IMO – by leaving early, it’ll take him longer to be a consistent rotation player in the NBA. If he stayed one more year, he might be able to sneak into a starting role on a lesser team. I’m thinking it wont be until his fourth year in that he makes an impact.

Also, I listened to the press conference and found one tidbit very interesting and something that’s definitely overlooked. Coach Rob was talking about how Jared went from a guy on nobody’s radar to one who has scouts coming to Corvallis. I can’t say I envisioned him becoming a legit NBA prospect when he came in a freshman. Cunningham was nearly out of control his freshman year and give Coach Rob some credit in getting Cunningham to develop his game to where it’s at today. Should help in recruiting.

Best of luck to Jared. Hope he can find a good role and stick. It would be great to have a player with a full time NBA gig from OSU.

I hope the team can start running some stuff for Collier. I also hope Berto is ready to step up. We can’t really replace JC but guys can step up. Also I don’t think Rob ever really utilized his skill set like he should. Rob seems to rely a lot on outside shooting which could actually improve some. That said I expect similar results to that of this year.

I’m trying to listen to the Nevada game on osubeavers.com/allaccess site and it fucking pissed Mr off that I can’t hear mike parker. I have the volume cranked and a heck of a buzz coming of the speakers and all I get is an inaudible whisper. But I know ill blow the speakers when parker gets excited. I know this site gets better results than my direct complaints. Does anyone else have this trouble trying to listen to audio over the website??(paysite). Please could we get this corrected. Really apparent when Jim Wilson gas a conversation with parker, in which Wilson is loud and audible and Parker is barely a whisper.

Does anyone have a radio stream link? Maybe that will be better than the paysite.

San Cristobal is not any sort of “real” Mexico. It is the part of the Mayan land that Mexico got. So culturally it is more Guatemalan than Mex. The Mayan descendents are pretty different in attitude from the Indios in Mexico. I have hung out in both areas, in the back country.

I found the Mayan types very nice and usually friendly, whereas the Mazatec, Mixtec, Quicatec types only wanted you gone, and tried to see to it that you left.

But any tourist destination, like Cabo San Lucas, is not any representation of the actual country.

Fan interest should be waning, as the program sinks. I know my interest is less. Its now time for the coaches to show us that last season was an abberation, and such wont be allowed to continue.

Mike Riley calling plays — I wonder if the occasions last year, when suddenly plays were not predictable, was Riley doing the calling? One might think so. Maybe he should cite such things or be asked what games he called.

Riley should be hot on getting back to a bowl game, as his legacy is headed down the toilet. He allows more losing seasons, and eventually he is out, and on such a bad note that he wont be recalled as any overall success.

But, that said….the OL, which CLEARLY was deficient last year, is now so thin that they cant hold a spring game? Doesnt sound like the result of a coach now realizing he is getting into trouble.

So until there are clear signs, like a really good recruiting class, we have to expect loss of fan interest…..or interest by anyone.

Man, now the baseball team is showing weakness … And the basketball star jumps to the pros. The hits just keep coming…..

Maybe the state should get up an OSU fan suicide watch hotline…..UO will have to do social work to keep their pitiful instate “rival” even alive….

“…Am I one of the ‘polyannas’ because I’m excited for Beav football?…”

Imo yes. It’s not even time to be cautiously optimistic when taking into consideration the state of the OL and the DL.

I got a cold chill when I read about the players being released from practice early so they could spend more time in the weight room. In all the years I’ve been following Beaver football I don’t recall ever hearing about that before.

Right now I’m expecting it to be ugly next season. Really ugly; and that’s mainly because of the OL and DL and possibly the LB’s.

I don’t even want to speculate about what the play calling will be like because I don’t know who’s going to be making the calls.

Decent by whose standards, MR’s or the rest of the Pac-1X coaches? Imo the reason too many of them didn’t pan out is because MR was recruiting kids who were marginal either because of academics or skill or both.

Imo the OL and DL and all recruiting is on MR. If his coaching staff aren’t bringing in kids who can compete in the Pac-12 then they should be replaced.

If MR can’t close on enough of them in order to field a competitive team then he should go.

I’m a Beav fan and have been since the 1940’s but that doesn’t mean I’m excited to see MR field a team that will more than likely not be competitive with their Pac-12 opponents.

But in critical analysis, which is what this site is for, there is not much reason to have any optimism about next year.

I recall such otimism about last season, coming off a 5-7 year and we seemed to think that losing season would light a fire under Riley, the staff and the team. IT DIDNT!

I see a little harder push in the recruiting, and a little new talent and Riley talking about doing the play calling. And btw, why in hell is he saying that? Just to be dumb? Just to allow the opponents to know he is now doing the play calling so they go back to old game video to scout us?

This isnt a fairweather attitude. Its reality. The place for unreasoned enthusiasm is in the O-LIVE comment section.

In the good ole days we called release from practice, work or school “cutting”. Why can’t you practice and lift weights later? Sounds like a shortcut. I guess that they really do not need any reps or technique training.

I don’t know about the beavs overall in 2012 –i.e., what kind of season they’re going to end up with– but from what I see, comparing programs, they will almost certainly get honked by the ducks _again_ this year. And, yes, it does tend to tamp down by enthusiasm a skosh.

Feel free to call me crazy, but I think the Civil War game is winnable. If you look at last years game, if the Beavs had two sustained touchdown drives, it essentially would have been a 14 point swing and the game just got more interesting. I saw most of the struggles last season around not having those sustained drives, which the defense on the field too long. The offense will be more productive this year with an improved O line and better decision making by Mannion.

You’re crazy, but I agree. Although my excitement is very low on the lack of linemen and apparent lack of adaptation in schemes. Not adjusting play to strenghs and weaknesses (a la Angrys chess analogy).

Can you blame Beaver Nation for NOT being excited. The last two seasons have been worse than embarrassing for beaver fans. I for one feel sorry for the players. They play their hearts out in a game with the same old Riley game plans which have not kept up with the fast/spread offenses of other college teams. Riley will not change and it will show again this season.It just won’t work in today’s college football.

Any coach that can not trust his subordinate coaches to call the plays has a big problem. Head coaches hire their coaches to carry out their offensive and defensive game plans using their own individual knowledge of the game to call the plays when and where needed. It is not the head coaches job to call plays. Mike Riley is what I call a “micro coach”. He has to have his hands on every thing…………the Army would call this a “clusterf#*k” way of handling business.

I watched Mike Riley the last two years while standing on the sidelines. Chewing his gum and putting on his chap stick, looking straight at his players who were on the field, injured….while an opponents team player kicked one of our players in the head, and he did nothing……just shook his head and kept walking down the sidelines.

Riley is slowly taking our team back to the dark ages of pre Fiesta Bowl fame. I would rather win games and go to a BCS bowl than watch another loosing season under Riley.

There is a new Facebook site called “behind enemy lines” for all those of us who live in the close proximity to the ucks. Its quite a fun and interesting site. The organizers plan to have functions held in Eugene throughout the year and inviting players to attend.

I think that the expectation of a team limited by its offensive and defensive lines, and therefore having the same problems as last year, is just defusing interest. Maybe Mannion’s senior will be particularly interesting to the fan base, if, in the interim, OSU can recruit some defensive tackles.

I’m expecting one or two to be able to compete. I have that expectation, and I also want to wait and see as to whether I’ll be proven wrong, rather than taking a crap on everything in early April. I think Seumalo will do pretty well.

The reason Seumalo was so highly recruited was because of his skill and strength coming out of high school. Its not because he is that big, or fast, although he has great speed and quickness. Yes, there is a speed change, but you talking about a coaches son, so he knows what to expect. He is not some you immature kid that is coming from some hick town where he played 8 man ball. Yes, he will compete for a position this year and will probably be able to compete with some of the best in the PAC-12. He could always crash and burn, but I will bet on a coaches son any day over some kid with no real knowledge of the game.

You started this by asking if you were one of the pollyannas because you were excited for Beav football.

The Free Dictionary defines a pollyanna as follows: “A person regarded as being foolishly or blindly optimistic”.

Based on the status of the OL and DL I thought it was necessary to say that It’s not even time to be cautiously optimistic when taking into consideration the state of the OL and the DL.

If you’re excited because you like the sound of pads popping that’s one thing, but if you’re excited because you think the Beavs are going to be competitive this year then……. I might figure that you need a seeing eye dog, if you know what I mean.

You look at it as taking a crap on everything and I look at it as being realistic. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

IF (you’ll note the big if) one or two of them are able to compete do you really think the team is deep enough in the OL?

What is it, 8 functioning OL players, 3 of whom were walk-ons and most of them were part of an OL that wasn’t worth much last year. I tried to be nice when I worded that.

Imo it seems like, based on the performance of last year’s OL, the OL needs a BIG infusion of talent, experience, skill, size, etc. Not just one or two but 5 or 6!

The incoming freshmen MIGHT provide some of the improvement in talent but imo they’re not bringing the experience, skill and size that are necessary in order to be competitive.

What if one of them goes down and OSU has to rely on a sub? What’s the quality of the sub going to be like? How much of a drop off in talent will there be? Is it going to be like losing a player who’s able to get by and replacing him with a player who was good in high school?

OS needs practice players in addition to the proverbial walkons in order to create the necessary reps in time and space and in a controlled condition where teaching and evaluation can be conducted. Scrimmage is ok but situational repetitions where spacing and assignments are practiced over and over is critical at this time of year for oline and dline. It is very possible to overcome size deficiencies if proper spacing/assignment discipline and technique is repeated and learned.

Spring ball is just a time to have fun and hope your team doesn’t end up on the injury/arrest reports. We know where our weaknesses lie. This is just a time to see if we have any little Dutch boys stepping forward to keep the seas at bay. Skill players will be fine. The o-line will be fine with the frosh in the fall. I’m buying the extra reps for those present now. They need them… especially after not getting them over the last two seasons. Defense will get better everywhere… except DT.

Oh well. It can’t get any worse at DT.

And it looks like our LB crew has finally made it out of the ICU.

I’d like to hear about a commitment for the 2013 Class. I’d like to hear that the load of Oregon and Washington prep talent for next year is being chased down. I’d like to hear that they aren’t tuckered out from their efforts last year, and they can go get these kids.

In typical….”can’t come right out and say it because aw shucks it might hurt someone feelings”…..it sounds like MR has relieved Langs of playing calling duties. I’m not jumpling up and down for joy, who knows if that’s even a good thing at this point.

BendBeaver, I feel your pain. I’m not a pollyanna, but sometimes when you read some of the fans on here, or any other place where fans are venting, you feel a need to counter it a little if not just to bring a little bit of sanity.

Mud & Sticks/mckalk/whoever else – I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will say it again – if being a Beaver fan brings anxiety you really should consider finding a new hobby. College athletics offers me entertainment, not always high entertainment value in watching Beaver athletics, and a great family experience to share with my kids. But, if it ever gets to the point where I’m not even a little excited during the Spring practice time, I will give it up. I’m not saying that we as fans should not be critical, we should, and we should expect better results than we have seen the past two years out of Beaver Football. But, if you no longer even have hope that things can get better and can never even think anything positive about the program – it is time to turn off the TV/Computer/anything else that reminds you of it. Take up golf, or fishing or hunting or … If having hope and faith that OSU can turn it around makes me a pollyanna then I guess you can call me whatever you wish, but I hope I never change to your way of thinking because then I would have to give up this game that I so enjoy.

If you get excited about the probability of your team getting their asses kicked then go for it.

If you think that it’s necessary to be excited about your team and you have to have that excitement, then it seems to me that you’re a candidate for possible drug abuse and addiction. Thus it might be wise if you avoid all temptations in that area, such as alcohol, etc.

So you get all excited about this upcoming season and I’ll just set back and watch. If they do well we’ll both enjoy it but on the other hand you’ll have a lot further to fall if it turns out like it’s probably going to.

I think the point is that some of us know the team is stuck in a crevasse. During the season, all we want to see is effort and sustained improvement. We’ll stand on the edge of the cliff and help all we can while they give effort. But if they ho-hum their time in the hole, we’ll join the masses who are yelling for them to do something positive. That’s the time to break things down and focus on the weaknesses.

While they’re putzing around in spring ball, we’re not going to sit on the ledge and cry. There are better things to do with our time than to diddle ourselves with projective moans of inferiority. Their weaknesses don’t have to be ours right now.

It’s a joke for any Duck fan to pump themselves full of sunshine during spring ball. So it is equally a joke for me to feel down at this time. Talk to me again in the fall, and I’ll be more focused. When the games are played, that’s the only time it really matters.

This is the beginning of recruiting season. So I would welcome any talk in any direction about that. Are we in the right ears? Are we going to work better than last year? Or are we going to regress to previous years’ levels? That’s about the only hopeful angles I got right now. But I’m wary of our coaches’ efforts to date, especially with the Northwest kids.

Mud & Sticks: You missed my point. I’m not excited because I think the Beavers are going to be a good team. I’m excited because a new season is being kicked off. I get to start reading about the team, sharing that with my kids and getting ready to take our fall trips to Corvallis. I made the 3 1/2 hour trip north for every game last year and was probably as deflated as you at the outcomes, but I enjoyed the experience. I get to start reading the SilverStream posts about the areas that we are going to be better or worse at next year. I’m not wearing my Beaver gear any less, I’m not talking with my football friends about the prospects of 2012 any less, in the words of Jack above I am not ready to jump off of any cliffs. I think it is fine to be passionate about the Beavs, but I think sometimes the fans of the Beavs get into the mob mentality and lose perspective about what this is.

Thanks for your concern, Mud and Sticks, but your amateur diagnosis is wrong. I’m an optimistic person in all areas of my life. It makes me a happier person in general and I’d rather be an optimist and be proven wrong than the other way around. Also looking at it objectively, there’s no reason the Beavs won’t be better in nearly all aspects of the game in the Fall. That’s another reason to be optimistic.

My excitement comes from my sense of loyalty toward the team. I don’t think it’s necessary, it’s just what happens as a result of the loyalty. I try to live a soulful life, and my soul connects with this team. With that, it means you’re present during the highs, and there to feel the lows as well. Life is richer when the down emotions are fully embraced and experienced just as the highs are. Yeah, it’s just football, but it’s a metaphor for a lot of other things. If the Beavs lose, depending on how it went down, I’m cranky for a little bit, but it doesn’t ruin my week. Certain games, if I think about long enough, can still sting. But I invest no matter what I think the outcome will be. I don’t temper my investment relative to how many wins I think they’ll have.

If anything, this mentality is the opposite of an addicts, who medicates, avoids, and numbs difficult emotions.

Well, I don’t think we need to quell the discussion. I just think we need to be objective in both actions and words. Like citizenship, the responsibility of a fan is to speak truth to power. So some discussion about the who/what/where/why of the coaches’ actions and words is fair. To eschew the bad (and its correlating criticisms) would be to eschew optimism. I think that’s what you’re saying about embracing the lows. If you ignore them, they fester and become infections. If you embrace them and know them, you can correct them.

Now isn’t the time to yell about everything we’ve done wrong over the years. I think we all know those things. Just write “DT… ugh!” and we all probably know what you’re saying. Right now I just hope injuries and arrests are minimized. And I hope to glean improvements for the things I want to see from my team in the fall.

I’m a “how you play the game” type person. If my team plays with fire, passion and effort, then I don’t mind losing. But I want to see a top-down understanding from all my teams that this is an expectation, not an option.

That’s the whole “identity” question I have for football. When you pull one Michael Philipp for (lightly) going after Vontaze Burfict after he head-butts our QB, the identity of our team is made into one that’s ok with our RB being thrown on the ashphalt 15 yards out of bounds.

When you start a game showing Pat Hill that you’re ready for any of the cheap shit he’s going to try this year, that’s another identity.

I’m looking for something between the two. I want a team who doesn’t go into Boise and stand around shell-shocked because they play dirty. I want a team who can take a low blow then deliver a solid overhand without blinking.

So there are things to discuss. But I’m not going to waste my time constantly complaining about each detail. I might as well just write “bold and powerful” into each post.

I would say that my Beaver loyalty for 40 plus years now would allow me the occassional pithy comment. You sir, are the one taking up over 100 words on an internet forum telling me what to think and do. I would never venture to do the same to anyone else here.

I’m not telling you what to do. I am excited because I love having the hobby of getting involved in Beaver Sports. But, I do think some of you need some perspective. I think the mob mentality is alive and well with Beaver fans these days. Most of us on here aren’t impacted financially or our well being by the Beavers winning or losing – so I’m just saying people that are, as Jack put above, ready to jump off the cliff should evaluate if this is worth it or not.

Why would I be ready to jump off of a cliff? I made one post that hinted at the silliness of assuming that Riley calling plays would automatically equal a better offensive performance. If I believe that, then I have to believe that Riley had virtually no control over what Langs has been doing over the last several years. I tend not to believe that.

I led a busy life outside of this forum. I probably post a bit less then most of the regulars. I can be positive or negative. I’ve noticed this place is named “Angry Beavers” after all! It seems like you are confusing me with someone else.

Now if OSU had a coach like this then I’d probably be a lot more excited (hopeful) than I am now.

On the other hand I’m thinking CRAP, UCLA just might start playing up to the level of their talent.

Here’s an excerpt:

——
And, oh yeah, in his first battle for credibility and change, Mora won.

A practice that began like a Saturday-morning stroll ended in what felt like a Saturday-night mosh pit. Players were flying at each other, screaming at each other, racing from huddle to sideline to drill as if they were being chased.

By the time Mora finally shut down the obnoxious piped-in crowd noise — yes, this is a coach who actually simulated crowd noise April 7 — the traditionally laid-back Bruins had been transformed into a bunch of guys looking for a fight.

UCLA perhaps hasn’t had a football practice this intense since Terry Donahue would get grumpy. This was the opposite of Bob Toledo, miles from Karl Dorrell and a completely different game from the one played by Rick Neuheisel, who was fired last year. The energy was so frantic I thought for a moment I was watching a practice at — gasp — USC.

This wasn’t a practice. It was an action movie: Call it “Mora, Mora, Mora.”

Anybody see the Nike Hoops Summit game this last weekend? Shabbazz Muhammad was dominant. I’ve read that he’s down to 3 teams and will announce tomorrow where he’s going for college. Kentucky, UCLA and Duke, with the first 2 most heavily favored. Would you rather see a future star like this go to a Pac 12 team (knowing it won’t be OSU) or would you rather see him go to another conference like the SEC or ACC? Does having a star go to UCLA help the conference as a whole, or would you rather have UCLA stay average and beatable?

That’s how I’m leaning too. Anything to get more of our games on the national stage, I’m all for it. I don’t need to see Kentucky on ESPN every week as the featured game. Recruits want the exposure too, and having the chance to play on a nationally televised game has to be attractive. If Muhommad went to UCLA, they would likely be featured at least a few times nationally during the year.

Hey guys…I went on hiatus for awhile from this site. Mainly because of personal things, but mainly because I stopped caring so much about winning and losing…which this site is mainly about. I’m more about supporting the school and student athletes. So in turn, I won’t make any judgments on this team until I see the home opener against Nicholls state and then Wisconsin the following week. If we don’t blow the crap out of Nicholls State…let’s face it….we won’t get more than maybe 3-5 wins this upcoming season. So to me, the first 2 games set the tone for the season.